The present application is based on and claims priority from Japanese Patent Application Hei 11-159699 filed on Jun. 7, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cross-coil type indicating instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a cross-coil type indicating instrument disclosed in Japan Patent No. 2658519, a printed circuit board is installed inside a driving unit from below. The printed circuit board is connected to terminals via screws which are inserted into the driving unit through the printed circuit board.
However, because the printed circuit board of the above cross-coil type indicating instrument is disposed below the dial plate thereof, it is difficult to satisfy recent demand for a thinner indicating instrument.
JP-A-9-21655 discloses an indicating instrument in which a printed circuit board is disposed between a drive unit and a dial plate.
However, the soldering causes it troublesome to assemble or electrically connect the drive unit and the printed circuit, and to replace them with new ones.
The present invention has been made to solve the above problem by simplifying the electrical connection between the upper circuit board and the lower drive unit and, also, assembling the upper circuit board and the lower drive unit and replacing those with new ones.
According to a feature of the invention, a cross-coil type indicating instrument is comprised of a dial plate, a housing disposed behind the dial plate, a pair of coils crossing each other, a plurality of terminals respectively disposed in the terminal holders, a circuit board detachably supported by the housing at the side of the dial plate in parallel therewith, an indicator shaft rotatably supported inside the housing, an indicator carried on the indicator shaft, and a permanent magnet carried by the indicator shaft at the middle of the shaft. The dial plate has a plurality of terminal holders at the outer periphery thereof. Each of the plurality of terminals includes a resilient member comprising a base portion fixed to the terminal holder, an elongation extending from the base portion toward a connection terminal that corresponds to one of the coils to be connected thereto, and a pressure-contact portion extending from the base portion toward the circuit board to pressure-contact the circuit board from behind by its resilience.
Thus, each pressure-contact portion is pressure-contacted to the circuit board so that each terminal and circuit board can be connected other than soldering. As a result, electrical connection can be made simply without increasing the number of parts. Assembling and replacement of the housing, the pair of coils, and the circuit board can be carried out easily.
The above cross-coil type indicating instrument can further includes a light source disposed on the front surface of the circuit board to be connectable therewith and a light conducting plate disposed on the back surface of the dial plate to conduct light from the light source to the dial plate.
The first described cross-coil type indicating instrument can further include a light source disposed on the front surface of the circuit board to be connectable therewith, a light conducting plate disposed on the back surface of the dial plate to conduct light from the light source to the dial plate, and an auxiliary plate disposed between the circuit board and the light conducting plate.
In the above stated cross-coil type indicator instrument, the circuit board can include a base board, a foil member, and a conductor member disposed at a portion which corresponds to the pressure-contact portion of each terminal to be connected to the foil member through the base board. Each terminal processor-contacts the base board via a corresponding conductor member.